An entertaining page-turner, perfect for a young fantasy fan.
Indebted to classic fantasy novels, a sweet story of good’s triumph over evil for young adult readers.
Jacob Deer is a bookish 18-year-old who only has one plan for the summer before beginning college in the fall: to lounge and spend his days immersed in books. When Mr. Maddock, an aging librarian and father figure to Jacob, reads a newspaper article about startling technological discoveries taking place in Tanki Lowbei, a remote, rural Tibetan town, he immediately suspects that the townspeople are under the influence of the mythical Ancillary, a small blue flower believed to offer limitless knowledge, the ability to harness one’s potential and the capacity to fulfill one’s destiny. The Ancillary is the stuff of ancient legends; most people do not know about it and those that do, like Mr. Maddock, have never seen it with their own eyes. The flower petals are believed to be marked with dots that form a circle-within-a-diamond motif: the very same shape of a birthmark on Jacob’s hand. Much like The Hobbit, the novel follows Jacob’s quest, prompted by Mr. Maddock, as he attempts to find the Ancillary and receive its powers. Episodic in structure, with almost every chapter offering an account of a challenge in which Jacob must apply his wits and commonsense to overcome obstacles, the story picks up the pace only after moving past an off-putting prologue that distracts and discourages the reader from slipping into the adventure. Cohen plays it safe and does not stray from the traditional traits of the fantasy novel; in doing so, what results is a thoughtfully constructed but predictable story. He makes certain to provide Jacob with an evil opponent in Marrow, a new friendly sidekick in Clark and the requisite love interest in the beautiful Sophia. And while the characters are distinctly different and have clear motivations, their personalities lack any real complication or nuance—what you see is what you get. That said, these weaknesses are not fatal; Cohen should be lauded for finding a way to weave myth into the story without making it feel heavy handed and for offering young readers a story that moves along at an engaging clip in a very readable style while underscoring a message about the potential within all of us.
An entertaining page-turner, perfect for a young fantasy fan.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2010
ISBN: 978-1935605768
Page Count: 245
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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